| Artist of the Week - 2006-03-27 - Daniel Mehlhart |
Daniel Mehlhart read the full interview here
InterviewWe’re glad to present FOEM`s new born child: FOEM/Crème.New mnml and IDM talents discovered on our forum gets the change to drop a solo EP. The Electronic Youth Compilation 3CD`s will continue off course! Daniël Mehlhart is the excellent starter of this new FOEM concept. Daniel was interviewed before FOEMCR001 by Christ Saddler. But to keep you a little updated: FOEM/jerzz: This is your first your first netlabel release. Stedten Stadt EP. What drives you to make music and in particular this EP? Daniël: I like to play around and see how sounds change in color. At first it was a pure fun thing, but now i see that its gettin better and better and this is motivating a lot. Its still fun but i see the whole thing more serious. And i always wanted to know how creating sounds works. When i was a child i listened to music, but i always wanted to know how it works too... FOEM/jerzz: Explain some more about Stedten Stadt EP, why that name? Does it represent some deeper meaning? Daniël: well...i dont live directly in frankfurt. i live in a suburb 10 km next to ffm. its called oberstedten, and this is the place where everything developed. my friends live next door so our communitiy is very strong. when we are out at night, people say: aah the guys from stedten are here...so stedten is a short form from oberstedten and its just a dedication to the place where i live. its not a place, its home and i love it here! FOEM/jerzz: "quote by respected FOEM DJ resident DJ_Mike_E" over Daniëls skills before Christ Saddler takes over : Here is an artist whose mastery seems to present itself in the form of infectious bass rifts and melodic tones. Daniel’s style is teeming with bubbly bass tones, and runs the gamut on other bass frequencies as well. Rich in harmony and very well orchestrated is how to best describe his music. FOEM/: Christ Saddler: Describe your musical roots! Daniël: I started playing Drums when I was 11. I quit at the age of 16. Then I got bored just playing alone in my room. After listening to Hip-hop for several years I heard a CD from a friend of mine: “DJ Rush & Monika Kruse @ Hafentunnel Frankfurt”. The set was from 2001 I think. I was fascinated! FOEM/Christ Saddler: Oh, i know that set! It’s a master piece indeed! And i think that DJ Rush and Monika inspired a lot of people in making music, and changed the genre preferences of many people. So this was the impulse that determined you to produce music? Or how did you come to producing? Daniël:: After I started DJ-ing in 2002 the interest in producing my own sounds grew. I tried several programs like Fruity Loops and Reason. Finally I decided to work with Reason. In 2 1/2 years I didn’t finished any tracks, just raw loops. But in the summer of 2005 I managed to finish several tracks and from that point my skills grew pretty fast. FOEM/Christ Saddler: You said that you are also a DJ, what do you like to spin usualy? Daniël:: Yes as mentioned above I’m also a DJ. I mainly spin minimal and Techouse tracks. But if the crowd is ok with it, I really like to spin italian grooves from Napoli ! FOEM/Christ Saddler: Wow! That is interesting! Maybe you can amaze us with a mix wich contains some good italian grooves. Do you also make LivePA´s? If yes, which equipment do you use? Daniël:: I don’t do LivePA's yet but I really look forward to do so. I my opinion it’s the most innovative and most interesting way to make people dance on electronic music. Just listen to Chris Liebing and Speedy J as "Collabs" FOEM/Christ Saddler: Do you work together with other artists as well? In remixes for example? Daniël:: Yes I mainly spin together with my close friend Andy W. We are also working on tracks together now. FOEM/Christ Saddler: Then maybe it won’t be a problem for you to find a new artist name because two djs are better than one. We have parody of a romanian proverb that fits well to this situation: “where there is one there is no power to defeat the beer barrel; where there are two the power grows and the barrel empty goes” (this is the best translation i could make :P ). Now let’s continue the interview with the next question: Is this the only area of music in which you are working or do you also play in a band or something? Daniël:: I did played in a band for half a year. But I quickly realised that it’s just not my thing. FOEM/Christ Saddler: What have you read or seen that moved or surprised you? Daniël: Last year I read the Biography of Lance Armstrong which impressed me. FOEM/Christ Saddler: In which groups on the internet are you active? Boards? Daniël: Livesets.com, FOEM, unitedsb.de etc... FOEM/Christ Saddler: And how did you come to FOEM? How did you find us? Daniël:From Liveset.com FOEM/Christ Saddler: What do you like about FOEM? Daniël:: The fact that s lot of very talented and inspiring artists from all over the world are meeting there and exchanging their own music. FOEM/Christ Saddler: Exactly! A lot of friendly people. How do you see the future of FOEM? Daniël: With a real CD Compilation Release ! FOEM/Christ Saddler: Hehe... it will be definitevly more than that, i can asure you! What are your musical aims? Daniël: My aim, or dream, would be to have releases on labels like Pokerflat and to travel around the world to make the crowds dance. FOEM/Christ Saddler: When you will achieve that, and i’m pretty sure you will, don’t forget to invite us at one of your big parties so we can shake a little on your mixes :) So, do you want to make producing your job? Daniël:: I don’t think that selling this kind of music would give me enough money to survive. I don’t need much, but I think the money which can be earned from DJ-ing is the deal. I really like to create music, and not earning (good) money isn’t going to stop me :) FOEM/Christ Saddler: That’s the true spirit in making music! Do it for pleasure and still try to earn enough for a decent life. When you sent your last promo to a label, what was their reaction? Which label was it? Daniël: My last Promo was sent to the Censored Records Label on which Robert Babicz and Martinez have had releases in the past. They were quite excited and told me that they will try do something with my tracks which I really would appreciate. I don’t know what will come out but I think it might be something like a various artists EP with a track of mine on it! I would be honored. FOEM/Christ Saddler: What do you think of the contemporary popular music which is played by normal radio stations? Daniël:: I don’t really like "Pop-Music". Tracks from artists like 50cent sound so easy and cheaply produced that it makes me sad to see that these guys earn millions and millions. They just mock the kiddies. But on the other hand there is "good" Pop music. I think artists like Madonna really don’t do it for the money anymore since they earned more than enough. But we need mainstream music so we can keep the underground separated. FOEM/Christ Saddler: Or maybe it’s time to combine this two sides and take from each one the good parts and make something new and improved. What do you think about the uprising of netlabels and the conflict between them and the commercial music industry? Daniël: I think that Netlabels are a good platform to spread music from unknown artists. Well, to be honest I did not really hear about any conflicts between them. FOEM/Christ Saddler: What's one thing you're a fan of that people might not expect? Daniël:: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin & Sammy Davis JR aka The Rat Pack. Amazing music and amazing singers !!! FOEM/Christ Saddler: So it’s true! Real music makers listen to real good music even if it’s old. And I am also a big fan of Frank Sinatra! Great voice, great man! Being a musician or a DJ can be tough and frustrating and many musicians and DJs 'burn out' after a number of years. How do you plan to sustain your efforts over the coming years and avoid ‘burning out'? Daniël: Actually I never thought about that yet.Not taking any drugs would help a lot of DJ's which totally screwed up. Maybe it can help you out on a long night but it kills you earlier. FOEM/Christ Saddler:Good luck with your tracks and have fun making them! FOEM supports you as much as possible. Thank you very much ! |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
